1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to agricultural seed planting equipment and more particularly pertains to a new modular gauge wheel apparatus for controlling the depth of a furrow created by a disc.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Both the methods and technologies employed by individuals engaged in agriculture have advanced throughout the course of society, particularly in the last century. These advances have taken planting technology from an era of broadcasting seeds by hand onto open soil to an era of precise, mechanized seed placement that maximizes the use of available water and nutrients to improve crop emergence and produce high yields.
One of the most significant milestones in agricultural seeding was the invention of the planter, a device that was able to control the frequency and depth at which a seed was deposited beneath the surface of the soil. The consistency at which this depth is maintained is essential to the proper germination and emergence of the seeds. By depositing seeds at a set depth beneath the surface of soil, each seed is subject to similar moisture, temperature and nutrients. In this consistent environment, all seeds of a particular variety germinate, emerge and grow at the same time. By varying this depth, a farmer can choose to place the seeds in the most appropriate growing environment for a particular area of the country and even for a particular field.
In order that agricultural planters place seed at consistent depths, a number of advancements have been developed in the prior art which attempt to solve the problem of seed placement at inconsistent depths.
One such solution to this problem involves incorporating a gauging element into the planting apparatus, wherein the gauging element controls the depth of the planting furrow. In order to properly track the surface of the soil, a wheel is often employed for this purpose. Typical gauge wheels employ a wheel element that is connected to a furrowing disc in such a manner that the vertical forces imparted on the gauge wheel are transferred to the furrowing disc. In this manner, when the gauge wheel encounters a variation in the elevation of soil proximate to the furrowing disc, the gauge wheel travels over the variation, causing the vertical position of the furrowing disc to move accordingly. The depth of the furrow then remains substantially the same in areas of high elevation as in areas of low elevation in relation to the surface of the soil.
Gauge wheel embodiments that comprise the prior art typically include a rim with a solid center section, and usually a tire mounted on the rim. Furthermore, the wheels are often positioned adjacent to a furrowing disc, which can result in dirt and debris building up between the gauge wheel and disc. To minimize this occurrence, a scraping element may be interposed between the gauge wheel and the furrowing disc for removing residual dirt that remains on surface of the furrowing disc as the disc rotates out of a freshly cut furrow.
However, in situations where the buildup of residual dirt is significant, the quantity of dirt and debris can overwhelm the ability of the scraping element to remove them, and the dirt and debris can build up between the furrowing disc and gauge wheel, causing lateral pressure on the discs that can prevent the discs from turning, thereby requiring the equipment operator to manually remove the debris. Residual dirt can buildup on the furrowing disc for many reasons, including in situations where there is high moisture content in the soil and where farming practices such as to-till farming are employed. No-till farming is a practice by which a quantity of crop debris from past growing seasons is left in the field for the current growing season. Because of the positioning and construction of the gauge wheel, it can impede the removal of this dirt and debris, and freeing the debris frequently requires removal of the gauge wheel from the planting apparatus.
In muddy field conditions, the problem of mud collecting between the gauge wheel and the furrowing disc causes lateral pressure just as does residual dirt and debris. Because mud build-up is a perpetual problem when planting in muddy conditions, substantial and frequent intervention is necessary by the equipment operator to free the mud from the space between the gauge wheel and furrowing disc and keep that space free of mud. After the gauge wheel is removed, mud is cleared from the space and the gauge wheel is replaced, the solid center section structure of the gauge wheel continues to encourage a build-up of mud so long as the planting apparatus is being used in muddy conditions.
Some gauge wheel designs have been directed toward planting seeds in soils with higher levels of moisture than normally permissible. To this end, some of these designs have employed a unitary structure with spaced fingers located about the perimeter of the gauge wheel. The fingers are intended to limit compacting of the wet soil. In muddy conditions however, these fingers may encourage a build-up of mud around the fingers and in the spaces therebetween. In very wet soil, the small surface area of the fingers limits their buoyancy in the soil, and thus the ability of the fingers to remain on top of the surface of the soil. In no-till fields, these fingers appear likely to collect and retain crop debris therebetween in a manner that exacerbates the previously mentioned problem of dirt and debris causing movement of the furrowing disc to freeze.
In these respects, the gauge wheel according to the present invention substantially departs from the conventional concepts and designs of the prior art, and in so doing provides a modular gauge wheel apparatus primarily developed for the purpose of controlling the depth of a furrow created by a disc.